Child of Destiny

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

These puppies were born to a Pug named Sunny and a small Terrior named MJ. They belong to my daugther. It was amazing to watch them play, eat and sleep. For about four months these pups were inseparable. They would cry for each other, play together and sleep on each other. Where one was they all wanted to be, even though their personalities were different. Their bond with one another was very strong. To the point that we tried to name them each a different name and it became impossible. My daugther decided to just say Sugar for sweet puppies. It did not take long for theses pups to respond to Sugar. So when we said, "here Sugar, here Sugar" they all came. So all three of our pups thought their name was Sugar. The most amazing thing was that when we gave the first one away the other two were sad, then the other one was given and Sugar was sad. Then it was Sugar, mom and dad left. Sugar did not have a relationship with either one of them, so you know it ment trouble. It was halarious watching them, it became a three ring circus of fights, bites and barks. Enough was enough so we gave mom away, meanwhile Sugar and MJ stayed with us. MJ is just a quiet character that does not like to be bothered with anything. While Sugar is a rumbling tumble weed like his mom, never stops running, chasing whatever moves and barks at everything and everyone. MJ (short for Micheal Jackson) still does not like his son's personality very much and just puts up with him! This is a personal story to show how we are as humans with one another. to show how friendship and love is important and the impact it can have on us. But at the same token how we are affected by broken relationships and how sometimes we just put up with stuff instead of dealing with it up front, in kindness of course and love! Please love one another for that is God's commandment. Love your neighbor as you love yourslf!

Monday, May 21, 2012

I EXTRAORDINARY LOVEOne of the greatest gifts anyone could ever own is to be able to love with the extraordinary love with which Jesus loved. One can call it extraordinary love, because no one has ever given their life for a man such as Jesus did the day He was crucified for the sins of mankind. Imagine what a gift He gave that day as He hung bleeding with the nails in his hands and feet, the crown of thorns on His head and the flesh of His body barely clinging to His bones as He hung there on the wooden cross. He gave His life as His blood was spilled for the love of mankind. That will always be the greatest example of extraordinary love ever given and no one could ever supersede that example. The Holy Spirit clearly spoke through Paul that the greatest gift is love. “And now abides faith, hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).Love is the catalyst, per say, the bridge to all things. Love is not a feeling. Love is a disciplined way of life. Love is an attitude of the heart that must be practiced until it is developed as part of one’s very nature. The Bible tells us that if a person belongs to Christ Jesus they have nailed their sins to the cross which causes the sinful nature to become dormant and they no longer want to be what they were before. This statement is true as one reads the scriptures,Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful nature to his cross. They don’t want what their sinful nature loves and longs for. Since we live by the Spirit, let us march in step with the Spirit. Let us not become proud. Let us not make each other anger. Let us not want what belongs to others. (Galatians 5:24-25).

Paul explains to the Galatians, “But the fruit the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy, and peace. It is being patient, kind and good. It is being faithful and gentle and having control of oneself” (Galatians 5:22). Notice that the first fruit of the Holy Spirit that is mentioned is love. Love is the bridge that crosses over to have joy and peace. Love is the bridge that crosses over to being patient, kind and good to and with others. The extraordinary love of God on the inside of us is the bridge that helps us to be faithful to the things we commit to do and to be gentle of character, and have self–control when crazy things happen.God the Father has called each and every one of His people to be an expression of God’s love on the planet earth. John wrote, “I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. If you love one another, everyone will know you are my disciples” (John 13:34, 35). Sometimes loving others is not as easy as we would like it to be. But if we love God and His Word, we want to obey out of love for Him. Sometimes we have to love in faith the ones who hurt us. But Love’s grace gives one the ability to be able to love enough to forgive, to release, not to hold to account the wrong done, and to pray for the one who causes us pain. The Bible tells us,God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love shows that he is joined to God. And God is joined to him….. Anyone who says he loves God but in fact hates his brother or sister is a liar. He doesn’t love his brother or sister, whom he has seen. So he can’t love God whom he has not seen. (I John 4:16, 20)

When one learns to walk in the extraordinary love of God there is room for healing, growth, prosperity, and many other doors to God’s goodness are open beyond our imagination. We must allow God’s love to grow in us because love is what we were born for. The Bible itself is a love letter full of instruction from the Father to us teaching us by Word and example the way of true life and love. In example, “Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. Love each other deeply. Honor others more than yourselves. Never let the fire in your heart go out. Keep it alive. Serve the Lord” (Romans 12:9-11).As one reads these scriptures it is easy to see that love is the bridge once again that helps us to hate evil and hold on to the good things. Love helps us to honor others, and keep the fire in our hearts in order to be able to serve God. These scriptures express the extraordinary love that only God can express by His Holy Spirit through us. “And hope will never let us down. God has poured his love into our hearts. He did it by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5). God’s Love gives a person hope.

II THE WAY OF LOVEIn speaking about love the Bible tells us:

"And now I will show you the best way of all. Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels. If I don’t have love I am only a loud gong or a noisy symbol. Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don’t have love, I am nothing at all. Suppose I give everything to the poor people. And suppose I give my body to be burned. If I don’t have love, I get nothing at all." (I Corinthians 13:1-3) These scriptures explain in very simple words the way of love. Without love we are nothing and we have nothing and we also get nothing. Jesus gave us the example of true love. There is no mistake in that and we should follow His example. Love is the catalyst to all good things in life. Human love is full of false expectations, false dreams and unreal demands. Human love is full of selfishness and is based on selfHuman love is based on making others slaves for themselves, while God’s love is based on what can I do for others and give to others. God’s love does not make slaves of others, but rather makes them stars and sets them free to be themselves. God’s love does not make unreal demands or false expectations. The Bible tells clearly what God’s love is,"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interest. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs. Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up. Love never fails." (I Corinthians 13:4-8)God’s love never fails us. Human love fails. As humans we fail each other, but God is true to all of his words; he never fails and his love never fails! Here in these scriptures is a description of God our Father and who He is and wants us to become. This is a big charge for the believer. But as we embrace the Living Word on a daily basis, His words will begin to become flesh in us as we become transformed into His image through the power of the anointed Word of God.In the Bible one reads, “But the fruit of the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy, and peace. It is being patient, kind, and good. It is being faithful and gentle and having control of oneself. There is no law against things of this kind” (Galatians 5:22). As we can see here, love is the bridge that crosses over to the Fruits of the Spirit. Without love there is no joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. Because love is patient and love is kind, love demonstrates self-control by not wanting what belongs to others. Love is gentle when it does not brag about itself, and is proud. Love is kind when it is not rude, looks out for its own interests or becomes angry. Love is patient when it does not keep track of wrong doing, and it never gives up. Love is faithful and joyful when good prevails, when it has the opportunity to protect, and give hope to someone in a situation that’s out of control. These are God’s attributes, and when a person gets born again these very attributes become a part of him or her. As one embraces the Word of God these attributes begin to develop on the inside. There are many other scriptures in the Word of God that show the connection between our natural lives and how the extraordinary love of God can and must become a way of life for us.

III MORE ON THE WAY OF LOVE

Jesus, through His extraordinary love, came to show us the way in this life by means of the cross. The Bible is full of scriptures that teach us about this love. “Hate stirs up fights. But love erases all sins by forgiving them.” (Proverbs 10:12). This is exactly what Jesus did through his extraordinary love. We are to do likewise, not that we should be crucified, but that we should love our neighbors as Christ loves. The love of Christ does not make life difficult for others, but find ways to help. This kind of love sacrifices it’s own self in deeds and actions in order for someone else to have what they need. This kind of love can only be revealed to one, as the person seeks God with all their heart.Matthew wrote, “Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. Everyone who asks will receive. He who searches will find. The door will be open to the one who knocks” (Matthew 7:7-8).When God’s love is revealed in our hearts by His Holy Spirit, it is then that one can love others as oneself. Loving ourselves is a prerequisite of loving others like Christ loves them. This is the reason one is commanded to love God selflessly. This is what helps us to love others unconditionally, and to care without reserve. This is what brings the passion of Jesus in our hearts. This is what causes us to have mercy and compassion to bring healing to a lost and dying world. As a believer learning to love God with all that is within is the first prerequisite, learning to love ourselves as Christ loves us is the second prerequisite to truly living by the love chapter in the book of First Corinthians and fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five.An individual may ask how one accomplishes that, it is a big charge. Read in your Bible about whom God is and what He does, and what He has done all along throughout history. Find out what you received when you received Christ into your life. In these processes you will find out who He is in you; through all that, you will find out who you are in Him. In the mean time be filled with the Holy Spirit and power, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. (Acts 2:2-4) This is a process that every believer must follow. The more you make a heart decision to yield to the work of God in you the more He gives Himself to you. God will make you a vessel of honor in His house.When the Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was in the law,Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind. This is the first and most important commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Everything that is written in the law and the prophets is based on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40)The last part of this scripture ties the bow on the first two parts; as believers we are not asked if we want to walk in love, we are commanded to walk in love because the foundation of the whole entire (law and prophets) Word of God is love. That is who God is! Let’s confirm the Word of God by reading the Old Testament references on these two commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “Do not try to get even. Do not hold anything against one of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as yourself. I am Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).All across the Bible we will find these two scriptures confirmed in different ways, always taking us back to the same meaning of it all: the cross, the whip, the crown, the nails and finally the blood. Every one of these things, either symbolically or in reality, have a strong message of love and tell the story of Jesus. Jesus is still the greatest and only example of true love.The following scripture shows that the love of God is far more important than having knowledge. This proves that knowledge without God is empty and useless. It’s much better to be known of God than to have all the knowledge in the world. …We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people proud. But love builds them up. Those who think they know something still don’t know as they should. But those who love God are known by God. (I Corinthians 8:1-3)

If we want to be known by God we must get away from pride and be humble. The Bible also tells us that the love of Christ controls us in 2 Corinthians 5:14. It is his love that keeps us. His love represents what He did on the cross. If we recognize what he did on the cross then we would know that Jesus was not only a meek and humble servant of love from beginning to end, but He had integrity in speaking for He only spoke what he heard the Father saying. Jesus could hear His Father speaking because He lived in His presence and that is where we need to be. The Apostle John wrote, “So we know that God loves us we depend upon it. God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love shows he is joined to God. And God is joined to them” (1 John 4:16). We find in the scriptures that this extraordinary love of God is so powerful it casts out fear. When God’s love is made complete on the inside of us we will not live in fear and we become overcomers, therefore giving place to boldness. Feelings of failure and inadequacy will leave and confidence begins to come to the heart. According to John, So love is made complete among us. We will be bold in the day God judges us. That’s because in this world we love as Jesus did. There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives fear away. Fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love. (1 John 4:17)

Someday when we as believers stand in the presence of the Lord to be judged, we will not be intimidated by His presence because we learned to walk and live in His love while on earth. In His presence we are so surrounded in His love fear can not stay. His presence in us drives away the fears we may have and gives room for the perfection of that love in our hearts. As His people we must seek to live a life of extraordinary love so that others may know we are His disciples. We must always remember that faith works by the fruit of love, so without love faith can not reach its highest potential. (Galatians 5:6) We can love God because He first loved us. That love transforms our core, and causes us to desire Him, as we experience His unconditional love.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion to all, the love of God is the foundation of the Word of God, and we must become an example to the people that surround our world. This example of love was given by Jesus when He gave up His life on the cross for all of mankind. Jesus redeemed it all and gave it back to us, now what are we going to do with it?

Friendship is something that we all need . Even the shyest of people and the ones that don't like to be around crowds need friends. God did not create us to be an island. From the beginning of time as far as we can see, in the Bible we read in the book of Genesis that God did not want Adam to be alone so he gave him a helpmate. Someone to help him out and share his life with. We all need someone. In example to write a story we need paper and pencil, but we also need our hands, our eyes and we could go on and on, or water needs dirt to make mud. In order to create a harmony of something it takes two or more things. Well, in order for us to be complete in life we need people as friends. The Bible tells us that where there is a multitude of cousellors there is safety. This just means that when we are surrounded with one person or more people,who are friends, that love us, help us and give us good advice we are in a safe place. We need each other for many reasons. Different friends bring different things and gifts into our lives. Some bring strength while others bring joy, some will bring the worst in us, while other bring out the best. There are friends that may just need our help and love. Some friends are our confidents and know how to give good advice, but for whatever reason God has sent them into our lives, each person helps us to learn lessons in life and we do grow.

Jesus had his friends, most of them were his disciples. Jesus help his disciples learn many special things.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Looking Beyond What You See

There are many ways to see and look at things. But one of the most amazing ways to see things is to look and take note beyond what is seen infront of you. I believe personally that, that is a gift from God. Sometimes we just see things, but some times we really look at things. Like the old saying goes; "looking beyond your nose" another clishe, seeing the "trees from the forest" The word that comes to mind is focusing!
God has given us a precious thing called life and He, the Creator has put us on a path, with great plans and purposes for our success, that is what is written in the book of Jeremiah. God's plan for us is for our welfare, prosperity. health and success those are some of the words used to describe God's greatest desire for us. David wrote in the psalms that God our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. How amazing that God preplanned everything for our lives! All we have to do is look beyond ourselves and see Him. After all He has given us a road map and specific instructions in the Bible. I heard someone say once that the Bible means: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth! God has it all planned out. He has all the answers even for our times of trouble.
God puts us on the path and instead of us looking to see what's infront of us, we are looking down to our feet. Instead of looking up and ahead we look to the left or to the right and we loose our focus. We are easly moved by our desires, emotions, thoughts, people and even our circumstances.
There is a need for us to notice, not only each step we take, but look ahead at the beauty of His plans and purposes. Looking ahead and focusing upward reminds us of where our help comes from. We must notice each step of the way the direction that He is leading us to go, the tasks that are before us that need to be accomplish in order to reach the destiny, He has planned for us. Focusing to do everything in life that He is requiring from us in order to be successful and give Him all the glory, He deserves. For we must always remember that Jesus paid a great price for all of these promises. Jesus is the greatest success story ever will be told and we are part of that story! We have been bought with a price. The greatest thing we can do is to obey His every biding. Let us be mindful to take note and look beyond what we see infront of us today. For infront of us is a long narrow path we must walk and never stop walking and quit. This path is full of wonderful discovers, experiences with God and blessings from God that He has preplanned for us to live out and to learn from in order to grow up! We must never resist or we will regret! We must never look back!

Monday, May 14, 2012

The Beauty of His Love

God's beautiful creations are most wonderful! If we would just look around as we walk through gardens, up and down streets, or just outside our own yard. We will hear through the ears of our eyes God speaking loudly to us about His wonderful love for us. How awesome that God would create the beauty of flowers, trees, the sky and many more beautiful things, so that we may enjoy each and everyone of them. As we look closely at the beauty of God's creation, it is evident that we are looking at a miracle. As we notice some of His creations; seems as if God Himself took brush in hand to paint them. God spoke all of these beautiful things into existence with His very Words from the beginning of time in Genesis. So when we see the colors blending together on trees, flowers, the sky, and all His beauty, we are beholding His Glory, the miracle of His authority, His wisdom, His knowledge, and His understanding; the very character of our Heavenly Father is on display before our very eyes. How amazing that our Creator would give us that, and much more that we do not deserve. Makes me think about His grace abounding towards us, through His love of giving up His son for our sins, that we may be cleansed by His blood and forgiven throught His death. But brought again to life through His amazing resurrection. And all that we have to do is acknowledge Jesus as we repent of our sins! What beauty! What love! Reminds me of the words in a song that says, "Where the blood fell, the flowers bloom! " Those flowers are mearly a symbol of us in a state of brokeness, then the blood flowed and we were cleansed. This is truely the message that God's amazing creation brings to us! The beauty of His wonderful love towards us His people at the Cross! Amazing Grace and amazing love!